Jio IPO closes after record subscription in 100 minutes

Bidding for the Jio Platforms initial public offering closed on Friday, concluding India's largest-ever share sale after rewriting the domestic capital markets record book.

The ₹30,213 crore offering was fully subscribed inside 100 minutes of opening on Wednesday, making it the fastest mega issue to reach full subscription in Indian market history. It eclipsed the previous record holder, Hyundai Motor India's ₹27,870 crore issue from 2024, and surpassed the rapid subscription pace set by LG Electronics India's ₹11,605 crore offering late last year.

At the upper price band of ₹1,119 per share, the digital and telecommunications arm of Reliance Industries Ltd commands a valuation of approximately ₹10.3 lakh crore. Unofficial grey market trading indicated a premium of ₹240 ahead of the close, pointing towards an estimated 21% gain on listing day.

Record-breaking Indian public offerings

Structure of the issue

The public offering consists entirely of 27 crore fresh shares, with no offer-for-sale component from existing shareholders. According to the company's regulatory filings, ₹27,500 crore of the total proceeds will go towards repaying or prepaying debt, leaving the remainder for general corporate purposes.

Strong sovereign and institutional confidence underpinned the issue well before public bidding started. The anchor book drew allocations across 212 investor accounts and schemes at the ceiling price of ₹1,119 per share. Global and domestic institutions participating in the anchor round included Life Insurance Corporation of India, BlackRock, Fidelity, Singapore's GIC, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, BNP Paribas, Allianz, and JPMorgan, alongside domestic mutual funds.

Digital infrastructure scale

The immense appetite for the offering highlights investor faith in the bedrock of India's expanding digital economy. Jio carried roughly 60% of India's wireless data traffic in the 2026 financial year, serving a subscriber base of 533.3 million users.

In the quarter ending June 2026, average revenue per user reached ₹215.6. Beyond mobile telephony, the company counted 28.6 million fixed-broadband connections, including its JioAirFiber rollout. Research notes from brokerages indicate home broadband connections generate about 2.5 times the revenue of a standard mobile user.

Financially, Jio's revenue climbed from ₹1,09,558 crore in FY24 to ₹1,46,885 crore in FY26. Operating profit expanded in tandem, with EBITDA reaching ₹76,255 crore, representing an operating margin of around 52%. Net debt leverage stood at a modest 0.36 times EBITDA prior to the debt reduction enabled by the IPO proceeds.

Technological expansion

Brokerages recommending the issue have framed Jio Platforms as an essential long-term asset in national digitisation. Shriram Research described the business as a core structural compounder for the country's digital trajectory, noting its market footprint and decreasing debt burden.

Jio has also expanded beyond domestic connectivity by building proprietary systems. The company has submitted 7,220 patent applications across 4G, 5G, 6G, cloud architecture, and artificial intelligence platforms. Brokerage Antique Stock Broking noted that future export contracts for Jio's in-house communications and software stack offer substantial upside potential that is not yet factored into the issue's baseline valuation.